Calling the response to two reported sexual assaults by the same student inadequate, a group of students and a now former Framingham High School staffer protested outside the school on Wednesday.

The participants said they picked Wednesday for their protest because Middlesex DA Gerry Leone was on hand with Framingham Police Chief Steven Carl to make a presentation to male students about preventing violence toward women.

"It’s very hypocritical," said senior Alyssa Almeida, who was one of the approximately 25 protesting outside the A Street entrance. "It’s a good cause and we support it, but it’s hypocritical because they wouldn’t prosecute the student who committed the sexual assault. It’s frustrating and completely incorrect."

Almeida said she knows both the accused student, as well as the alleged victim of the second assault.

Almeida said Principal Michael Welch tried to convince the students not to picket at the entrance on Wednesday. He told them he had not heard about the sexual assaults, Almeida said.

However, Kevin Fox, a social worker at the high school, said Welch definitely knew about the incidents because he was the one who informed the principal.

Fox said the first assault occurred last April when a junior committed an indecent assault against a freshman girl in the school. The girl reported it to Fox two weeks later. Fox said he told Welch and reported it to the police.

The student was never charged, and Welch did not punish the student at that time.

A second assault happened against another girl, a junior, later in the school year. It was never reported to police, and the offending student was suspended for five days, Fox said.

The student was then allowed to play football in his senior year.

"I questioned him (Welch) about why the student was playing football," said Fox. "His immediate response was ‘How public do you want to make this, Kevin."

Fox said the school failed to follow Title IX rules that require an investigation by the school into any sort of sexual assault. He said the school turned over the investigation to police and the Middlesex district attorney’s office, but that does not satisfy the Title IX rules.

"I think Mike Welch wants to present a public image that he runs a pristine school," Fox said.

Fox said throughout this school year he called for an internal review of the district’s policy about handling sexual assaults. Those calls went unanswered, and he said Welch tried to quiet him by filing a disciplinary note against him on an unrelated matter. Fox said he filed a grievance with the teacher’s union, and it was overturned.

Fox said he resigned on Wednesday due to the inaction of the school administration.

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"It was a difficult decision, but I feel like my professional moral integrity required it," Fox said.

Another senior, Peter Tosti, said when he heard about the assaults, which he said are well known at the school, he thought it "was beyond the pale of human decency," and an effort to protect athletes at the school.

He said he hopes the protest will let "the community know the scope of what happened."

"Almost everyone who has heard about what happened ... they’re almost in disbelief something like that could happen," said Tosti. "The people who weren’t outraged didn’t believe it actually happened because something like that couldn’t happen with the school covering it up."

In a statement, Leone did not address the protest, but said the sexual assault that was reported to his office in 2012 was not ignored.

"We conducted a comprehensive investigation, assessing the allegations against the well-established, very high prosecutorial standards of proof and persuasion that we apply to all criminal allegations," said Leone. "Based on that assessment, we determined that the matter would be closed without filing of criminal charges."

Leone would not specify the reasons.

Welch did not return calls or emails on Wednesday. Framingham Public School’s Superintendent Stacy L. Scott also did not return several calls. Chief Carl said he could not comment.

The students said they are not giving up until there are changes on how things are handled at the school.

"We’re not done," said Tosti. "We want to continue this. We want to change the culture where athletes think they’re above the law."